Father Rale's War

Prior to Father Rale's War, the Mi'kmaq resisted the establishment of a British fort at Canso, Nova Scotia by raiding the fishing station in 1720. Phillips sent a company of the 40th, under the command Major Lawrence Armstrong, to take up garrison of a small fort in Canso built by the New England fishermen.[3] The Mi'kmaq continued preying on shipping, forcing the garrison to take action in February 1723.[4] Serving as marines, the troops and local fishermen were able to disperse the marauding Indians. The next engagement came in July 1724 when a party of sixty Indians attacked Annapolis Royal. The garrison responded with a poorly calculated sortie from the town's dilapidated fort, resulting in the death of a sergeant and private, the wounding of an officer and three privates, and the repulse of the troops. After some pillaging, the Mi'kmaq departed with a number of civilian prisoners.[5]

From 1717 to 1743, Phillips' Regiment, garrisoning Annapolis, Placentia, and Canso, was successful in protecting settlers from Indian attacks, checking French influence in the area, and preserving the British foothold in Atlantic Canada.[5]

King George's War

At the outbreak of King George's War, the French at Louisbourg immediately engaged in the Raid on Canso in May 1744.[6] A flotilla containing 900 French regulars and militia. The four poorly supplied companies of Phillips' Regiment were forced to surrender. The town was destroyed and the prisoners sent to Louisbourg. Once the regiment's officers and men were paroled in September 1744, the regiment was evacuated to Boston where they provided valuable information on the defences of Louisbourg for the British siege the following year.[5] Governor Shirley was having difficulty raising troops requested by Mascarene and therefore he ordered the ex-Canso garrison to Annapolis Royal.[7]

Private, 40th Regiment of Foot, Nova Scotia, 1742

The Newfoundland Campaign started during August 1744. Captain Robert Young, of the 44-gun ship Kinsale, lying in St. John's, Newfoundland, received intelligence that five French ships were in the port of Fishotte and resolved on despatching an armed prize to attack them. The prize was named the St. Philip, and was manned by eighty men of the Kinsale's crew, and commanded by one of her lieutenants,[8] and accompanied by three 10-gun colonial privateers. The St. Philip succeeded, after grounding several times, in reaching the Moderate, of twelve guns and seventy-five men, which was boarded and carried ; then turning the Moderate's guns against the remaining ships, without the assistance of the privateers (who did not get into the harbour in time), compelled the whole to surrender. The St. Philip had ten killed, and thirty wounded.[9] The loss on board the French ships was more severe. The five vessels, which had on board 18,000 quintals of fish and eighty tons of oil, mounted together sixty-six guns, and carried 342 men.[10]

In July 1744, three hundred Indians under command of a French priest named Le Loutre attacked Annapolis, the only British garrison in Nova Scotia. Only eighty men of Phillips' Regiment were available to meet this threat, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Mascarene. Mascarene refused to surrender to Le Loutre. Le Loutre's party eventually burned a number of houses and withdrew. Following this, George II authorized the reorganization of the regiment which increased to six regiments the garrison at Annapolis, with an authorized complement of 450. Initially only seventy additional men were received. Recruitment efforts continued and Governor Shirley sent 206 recruits in February 1746. Despite the additional manpower the regiment remained under strength. It was at this time that Captain John Winslow first took command of a Philipp's regiment at Annapolis Royal, after being transferred from Newfoundland.[11] In September the enemy, this time three hundred regulars and militia with Indian support, reappeared outside the dilapidated earthworks of Annapolis Royal. After a four-week siege and lacking a train of artillery, the French withdrew from the defiant garrison.[5]

A force of six hundred French and Indians again attempted to take Annapolis in May 1745. This demonstration ended quickly with the French and Mi'kmaq being ordered back to help defend Louisbourg from the British.[12]

The only other action seen by Phillips' Regiment occurred while serving as marines and seamen. A detachment from the garrison at St. John's, Newfoundland volunteered to serve on a captured twenty-gun ship for an expedition with three privateers to Fishotte Bay. The prize entered Fishotte Bay alone and engaged a number of anchored French ships. After five hours of fighting and the loss of ten killed and thirty wounded, the ship had captured three fourteen-gun and two twelve-gun enemy ships; forty six of their crews were killed and three hundred and thirty two made prisoner. The lagging privateers entered the harbour and assisted in the destruction of French fishing stages and the removal of enemy ships and prisoners.[5]

By the end of the war Phillips' Regiment, after defending Britain's foothold in Nova Scotia with a skeleton complement, had its establishment raised to seventy men for each company. Men were quickly impressed in England for service in the regiment.[5]

Between 1746 and 1748 the regiment contented itself with garrison duty at Annapolis and St. John's. With a continuing problem of finding recruits in Britain for the Philipp's regiment George II took the unusual step of allowing recruitment from the colonies for the British regiment.[13]

Father Le Loutre's War

The 40th was also actively engaged in Father Le Loutre's War. In July 1749, the grenadier company under Captain Handfield were sent to garrison the new settlement of Halifax founded the month earlier by the new Governor of Nova Scotia, Edward Cornwallis. A surprise attack by local Mi'kmaq in the Siege of Grand Pré resulted in the capture of a detachment of the company including Lieutenant Hamilton and Handfield's son.[14] The captives were later returned to Halifax. Further engagements occurred with the Indians that year as the troops preserved the line of communication between Halifax and Annapolis Royal. Additional members of the regiment formed the garrison of Fort Sackville and established themselves at Fort Edward.[5]

By 1750 Cornwallis had taken over the colonelcy of the regiment. By the Royal Warrant of 1 July 1751, Cornwallis' Regiment was given the numerical distinction of the 40th Regiment of Foot.[15][16] Neglected for so many years by its former colonel, Cornwallis set about enhancing the condition of his new regiment. The companies in Newfoundland were rotated and discipline was improved. Desertion was poorly tolerated by Cornwallis. Of six deserters stationed at Fort Vieux Logis, two were shot and the rest reprieved. Three other deserters were hanged and their bodies suspended in chains as a warning to others. Further changes happened in the 40th with Cornwallis' appointment of Major Charles Lawrence of the 45th to the regiment's lieutenant colonelcy. Lawrence proved to be an energetic and effective military and administrative leader. After his appointment, Lawrence lead an expedition to the Missaguash River in August 1750 where he routed in the Battle at Chignecto a superior number of Indians under Le Loutre. That fall he built Fort Lawrence across the river where the following spring the French would build Fort Beausejour.[5]

In 1752 Peregrine Hopson succeeded Cornwallis as Nova Scotia's governor and colonel of the 40th Regiment. In poor health, Hopson returned to England in 1753 leaving the governing of the colony to Lawrence. In 1755 Hopson officially resigned as governor and Lawrence was appointed. However Hopson remained the colonel of the 40th Regiment until his death in 1759. (Afterward, for the first time since its formation, the regiment's colonel was not the governor of Nova Scotia. Hopson was succeeded as colonel in 1759 by John Barrington, followed by Robert Armiger in December 1760.)[5]

French and Indian War

By 1755 it was decided that the recently erected French Fort Beausejour had to be removed as a threat. The English force, including members of the 40th Regiment, was met by a large body of regulars and militia as they crossed the Missaquash river. This enemy force was attacked and dispersed quickly. Beausejour was subsequently laid siege to on 21 June and it surrendered four days later.[17]

Also in 1755, under the command of John Handfield, the 40th were engaged in the Expulsion of the Acadians from Annapolis Royal. After such a long stay in the colony, a number of the officers had married into the local Acadian population. Therefore, the deportation order forced officers to exile their own relations. Even the commander of the garrison, Major Handfield, had to deport his wife's "sister-in-law, nephews and nieces, uncles, aunts, and cousins." Handfield wrote to another officer performing the same task: "I heartily join with you in wishing that we were both of us got over this most disagreeable and troublesome part of the Service."[5]

In 1757, after forty years in Annapolis Royal, the town where the regiment had been raised, 43rd relieved the 40th where it then went to Halifax to prepare for service in the Seven Years' War.[18] In 1758, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Handfield, the regiment participated in the second siege of Louisbourg.[19][20] Some companies of the regiment participated in the Louisbourg Grenadiers on its formation in 1759.[21]

The regiment moved to Barbados in December 1761[22] and then took part in the Battle of Havana in June 1762.[23] In June 1763 the regiment rotated out of Havana to Annapolis Royal where it served until 1767 when it was transferred to Ireland.[24] This would be the first time in its 48-year history that the British regiment would serve on British soil.[19]

In May 1815 the regiment was rushed to join with Wellington's army just before the Battle of Waterloo commenced.[67] Initially placed in reserve, they were later in the day moved to the centre of his line to a position near La Haye Sainte.[68] They held firm all day and helped drive off Napoleon's final massed infantry attack, ultimately losing 170 killed or wounded, including their commanding officer Major Arthur Rowley Heyland.[69] The regiment then formed part of the Army of Occupation until returning to England in April 1817.[70]

The 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1793. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) in 1881.

Albert Halton VC (1 May 1893 – 24 July 1971) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Harry Christian VC (17 January 1892 – 2 September 1974) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces.

James Hewitson VC (15 October 1892 – 2 March 1963) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

James Kirk VC (27 January 1897 – 4 November 1918) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy.

Kirk was born on 27 January 1897 in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire to James and Rachel Kirk. He enlisted as a private in the Manchester Regiment in 1915, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in June 1918. Kirk was a 21-year-old second lieutenant in the 10th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, British Army, attached to the 2nd Battalion during the First World War when the actions that led to his recognition took place.

John McDermond VC (1832 – 22 July 1868) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

John Readitt VC (19 January 1897 – 9 June 1964) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

The Lancashire Infantry Museum, formerly known as the Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum, is located at Fulwood Barracks in Preston, Lancashire, England. The museum claims to be "largest Regimental archive and the premier centre for military historical research in the North of England."

The Lancashire Militia, based in Lancashire, England, was one of a number of county-based irregular military units designed to provide, during times of international tension, homeland security, relief of regular troops from routine garrison duties, and a source of trained officers and men for the regular Army.

The Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers was a Territorial Army unit of the British Army.

It was formed on 1 July 1999 following the Strategic Defence Review by the amalgamation of the 4th Battalion Queen's Lancashire Regiment and the 4th (Volunteer) Battalion of the King's Own Royal Border Regiment. On 1 July 2006, the Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers were amalgamated with the King's Regiment companies of the King's and Cheshire Regiment to form the new 4th Battalion (Volunteers), Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border).

Robert Scott VC (4 June 1874 – 21 February 1961), was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

The South Lancashire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958.

The regiment, which recruited, as its title suggests, primarily from the South Lancashire area, was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 as the Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) by the amalgamation of the 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot and the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers). In 1938, it was renamed the South Lancashire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's Volunteers) and on 1 July 1958 the regiment was amalgamated with the East Lancashire Regiment to form the Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) which was later amalgamated with the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) to form the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, which was later merged with the King's Regiment (Liverpool and Manchester), the King's Own Royal Border Regiment to form the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border) in 2007.

Thomas Orde Lawder Wilkinson VC (29 June 1894 – 5 July 1916), was an English-born Canadian and British Army officer who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Tom Fletcher Mayson VC (3 November 1893 – 21 February 1958) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Walter Mills VC (21 July 1894 – 11 December 1917) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

William Edward Heaton VC (1875 – 5 June 1941) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

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